Duck Population Hits Decline

Outdoors

Duck populations have declined 14 percent in the past year, a just-completed survey has revealed, but federal wildlife officials say they're still higher than the long-term average.

But the three most important species to Florida duck hunters are showing even steeper population drops in their breeding colonies.

The ring-necked duck, Florida's most harvested species, has had a 43 percent decline in population in the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's eastern survey area. The area includes New York, New England and eastern Canada.

In several Canadian provinces, ring-necked duck numbers went from 619,000 in 2000 to 353,000 this year.

In addition, blue-winged and green-winged teal numbers are down 23 and 21 percent in the wildlife service's central survey area, which includes the north-central United States, Alaska and western and northern Canada.

The survey estimates there are 5.8 million blue-winged teal and 2.5 million green-winged teal.

In 1999, the latest year for which statewide harvest figures are available, 37 percent of the nearly 268,000 ducks shot in Florida were ring-necked ducks, according to statistics from the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.

The combined teal harvest made up 33 percent of the state's total for the year.

Diane Eggeman, the state's chief waterfowl coordinator, said although ring-necked ducks are showing a large decline in the East, their numbers last year were unusually high.

"Last year their eastern population was the highest number since 1990," she said.

Eggeman also said only half of the ducks that winter in Florida come from the eastern survey area; the rest are from the central zone.

And population estimates for the blue-winged teal, Florida's second most-hunted species, are still 29 percent higher than their long-term averages, at 5.8 million birds, according to the fish and wildlife service.

The service blamed dry habitat conditions in western Canada and the northwestern U.S. for the decline from 41.8 million to 36.1 million birds.

In addition to the teal and ringed-necks, other species showing declines are:

Mallard, 7.9 million, down 17 percent.

Redhead, 712,000, down 23 percent.

Northern shoveler, 3.3 million, down 6 percent.

Canvasback, 580,000, down 18 percent

Wigeon, 2.5 million, down 9 percent.

Scaup, 3.7 million, down 8 percent.

Eggeman said Florida's drought hurt hunters last year, concentrating the ducks in relatively small areas around the state.

On one local public duck-hunting area, the impact was just the opposite.

At the 3,800-acre T.M. Goodwin Waterfowl Management Area in south Brevard County, last year's duck harvest was up 119 percent compared to the prior year.

Hunters shot a total of 649 ducks there compared to 296 in the 1999-2000 season.

"Last year we had a real good year -- we averaged 2.5 ducks per hunter," said Steve Rockwood, who manages the area for the fish and wildlife conservation commission.

Teal were the main targets, accounting for 559 birds.

By comparison, hunters shot only 10 ring-necked ducks on the area.

Earlier this year, the Goodwin area's prospects for the coming season weren't exactly favorable.

The drought had a major impact on the area's 1,500 acres of man-made duck ponds.

"We were completely dry -- even our reservoir -- the only water was in some of our ditches," Rockwood said.

He had hoped to get some good out of the drought by burning off unwanted vegetation and allowing the soil to become firmer. But Rockwood was stymied by the statewide burning ban imposed by state forestry officials.

Now, he said, the rains are refilling the 150-acre ponds.

"By the time the burn ban was lifted, everything here was greening up and we couldn't do much burning," Rockwood said.

He said he probably won't get another opportunity to manicure the vegetation and make it more attractive to ducks for some time.

"The burn ban was really unfortunate for us because these marshes only dry out every 20 or 15 years. Plus, we had a couple of good freezes and the vegetation was exceptionally dry," he said.